Chapter 188
Prince of Darkness.
Oh, you thought we were finished? Not even close. This is only the beginning. Envy may have claimed her crown, but every Queen needs her heirs, and every heir has a story. The Underworld isn’t done weaving its tangled threads, and neither are the gods who meddle in it.
Part two of Queen of the Underworld isn’t about endings; it’s about legacies, love, and the rise of a Prince who never asked to lead and the girl who never stopped believing she could be a princess.
Elliot and Macey’s story begins now.
Elliot.
The Red Moon Packhouse was never quiet. Not really. Too many footsteps echoing down the halls, too many voices carrying from the training grounds, too many memories stitched into the walls for silence to ever truly exist here. But waiting for her always made the noise fade. I leaned back in the chair by the front window, pretending I wasn’t just pacing a hole into the floor. Pretending I wasn’t counting down the hours until she came home, like I had every day since she’d been shoved off to finish her last year of school. The front doors burst open with a crash that made the guards flinch, and there she was. Macey.
She tossed her bag halfway across the room before collapsing into the chair beside mine with all the grace of a soldier returning from battle. Her hair spilled over her shoulders, chocolate–brown strands catching in the light, making it look like molten silk. Brown eyes framed with lashes too long for their own good flicked to me briefly before she slumped down with a groan. The freckles dusting her nose crinkled as she scrunched her face. My chest tightened, just as it always did when I remembered she wasn’t the little girl clinging to my heels anymore. She’d grown into herself, curves and confidence in all the right places, the kind of beauty that made every male in the pack turn their head. And it made me want to rip every single one of their throats out.
“You have no idea how done I am with today,” she muttered, throwing her arms over the chair. “Half my year already has their wolves. Half. Do you know how humiliating it is to spar when everyone’s shifting and I’m just…me? Three months, Elliot. That’s all I need. Then I can finally shift, and when I do, I swear I’m going to kick every single one of
their asses.”
Her eyes sparked with fire, determination practically rolling off her in waves. She didn’t even notice how close her knee brushed against mine, how her presence burned like sunlight. But I noticed. I always noticed. Three months Three months until her wolf came, until fate spoke the word I’d been desperate to hear for so long. Three months until I’d either be bound to her forever… or forced to bury the only dream I’d ever had. And Goddess help me, I didn’t know which one scared me more.
I tilted my head at her, unable to stop the smile tugging at my lips.
“You do realise you could already kick their asses without a wolf, right?”
Macey’s pout cracked into a faint smirk, the kind that always sent my pulse into overdrive. She opened her mouth, ready to argue, when the door swung open again and chaos spilled in. Dorian was first, as always, swaggering like he
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Chapter 188
owned the place. Kieran followed with his usual lazy grin, and Felix trailed behind, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. Lyra slipped between them, tiara askew in her dark curls, her gaze sharper than all her brothers combined.
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“Yeah, you would say that,” Dorian snorted, catching the tail end of my words. His tone was all mockery, but his eyes cut to me with a knowing glint I didn’t appreciate.
Macey groaned. “Do you all have to breathe the same air as me every second of every day?”
“Only when you’re this entertaining,” Felix said smoothly, leaning against the doorframe like he had nowhere better to be.
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Lyra’s mouth quirked. “Careful, Mace. He’s going to spoil you rotten with all that confidence–building.” Her dark eyes flicked to me, and for a split second, I swore she saw right through me.
“She’s already spoiled,” Kieran drawled, flopping onto the couch with a yawn. “Three months, and she’ll have her wolf. Then we’ll see just how scary our big sis really is.”
Macey straightened in her chair and jabbed a finger at him. “Correction: I’m already scary. You’re just too cocky to admit it.”
The room filled with laughter, the kind that masked tension, the kind that made my chest ache. They all saw a sister, a packmate. Blood didn’t mean much in our family. We’d all grown up as our own little pack. I’d considered the quads as my siblings since the day they were born, but Macey…Macey was different to me. Every time she used the word “brother” towards me, I internally cringed. I didn’t want her to see me as her brother. I wanted…more.
Their laughter carried on around me, but I barely heard it. My gaze drifted to Macey, slouched in her chair with that stubborn fire lighting up her eyes, and the memories came rushing back whether I wanted them to or not. She’d always been mine. Not in the way anyone else would understand, but in the little ways that mattered. Like the nights she used to sneak into my bed when the storms rattled the windows, curling up against my chest and whispering that she felt safer with me there. Or the mornings when she’d grab my hand without a thought, tugging me along because she was too excited about something to walk on her own. And the games, gods, the games. She’d demand I play along; she was bossy even back then, telling me she was the princess, and I was her prince. Always her prince. She’d twirl in a too–big dress stolen from Envy’s wardrobe and hold out her tiny hand, waiting for me to bow. I used to laugh at how serious she was, but the truth was, I wanted it. Even then, I still did. I wanted to be the one she turned to when she was scared. The one she held onto when she was happy. The one she chose to be her prince, not just in a game, but in this life, and in whatever lives came after.
But all I had right now were memories and a hope sharp enough to cut me open.
Three months. Three months until fate either crowned me… or crushed me.
